Main menu

Tag Archives: budgeting

Luke 8: 2 …along with some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Among them were Mary Magdalene (from whom seven demons had been thrown out).

There are some aspects of my personality that I simply cannot change. I believe all of us have that one habit, personality quirk or just plain irritation about ourselves, that if we could, we’d change in an instant. In my personal prayer time with the Creator, I mention the list of things I know I should change but I get so overwhelmed I end up shelving it for a while. Well, I’ve been shelving the same problems for the last ten years I believe it’s time to act. Now that I have a spiritual bahana I’ll be in good company.

For the next three weeks, Angelina and I have decided to give up one habit that we’ve struggled with that we’d like to change. Once the three weeks is up, we’re allowing ourselves to go back to the way we were. When I spoke with her about the length of time, I took into consideration that some habits cannot be changed, but they can be modified; being a bit of a extremist, I tend to look at things as all or nothing and when it comes to changing a bad habit or sin I usually talk myself out of it by saying – it’ll be too much for me.

My habit:

I love not keeping a budget! The roots of my habit stem from not wanting to be told how to spend my money, when I should spend it and where I should spend it. In the past, when I’ve tried to change this aspect of my personality, I too became like the people possessed in the bible: I foamed at the mouth, threw myself around the room, howled at the moon and jumped into a herd of swine. All I can say about myself then is that I was simply not mature enough to take on the responsibility. There are things about myself that I’ve accepted and continue to accept that will make this effort, I believe, a bit more doable this time around.

For the next three weeks – and only for the next three weeks – I’m going to change where I do my grocery shopping and begin the process of understanding how to use coupons and look for the best deals (uuuh such a bore and a wast of time!). I’m also going to cut out fast food and dining at restaurants as well (I need my fabulous restaurants to make me feel fabulous!). Just typing this and thinking about all it’ll entail makes me feel like this:

Good luck to me – period.

Ed

Emotional Eating

For as long as I can remember, I have been an emotional eater. I eat when I am stressed, upset, overly-tired or upset. Food is comforting,…for awhile, but the effects of using food as a clutch are starting to take their toll.

In the last few months, I have noticed I have been letting work and life stress overshadow my health. I have stayed late at work instead of going to yoga class, I have blown off the gym after a long day at work and sat on the couch instead. I have decided I did not want the healthy dinner I had planned and ended up going to get pizza + beer, instead. I have claimed to be too tired to make a healthy dinner or lunch and opted to eat out instead.

Even though I eat a vegan diet, I still have let far too many processed carbs, fats and sugar creep onto my plate. I am feeling the effects. The weight is slowly creeping up, I feel more lethargic, irritable and easily stressed.

I know that I need to get re-focused and re-committed to a whole foods, plant-based diet. Whenever I get off track, Kris Carr’s 21 Day Adventure Cleanse helps me re-establish healthier eating habits. I have done this plan a few times in the past two years. I blogged about it quite a bit on my own blog, (you can read those posts here).

The basics of what I will be striving for in the next 21 days are:

Abstain from coffee

Abstain from all alcohol

Abstain from ALL animal products

Eat minimum gluten (only have whole, sprouted grain products)

Abstain from sugar (I need to do a better job of reading the ingredients on EVERYTHING. It’s amazing how many products have sugar hidden in their lists.)

Dry brush every other day (cleanse off dead skin cells that contain released toxins)

MOVE for at least 30 minutes each day. Even if it’s a 30 minute walk with my dogs, I need to get in some form of exercise each day.

I also add in yoga or meditation each day. Even if it is for only 15 minutes. It helps set up my day with positive intentions.

Sleep at least 8 hours every night.

I am kicking it off with a 3 day juice cleanse! I have done a few juice cleanses in the past year, the longest being a 10 day. You can read more my juice cleanses here. Juice cleansing should always be approached with research, caution and common sense. However, I know my body responds to it well and feel it will be a nice way to start off this detoxing process.

The most difficult part for me will be not reaching for food when I need comfort. I will be working on establishing more positive, healthy coping mechanisms.

Ed & I appreciate you following this journey along with us to improve not only our spiritual lives, but physical one. Any support you can offer us along the way is appreciated!